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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27437299">"We're Gonna Be Okay, Aren't We?"</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/show_me_the_universe/pseuds/show_me_the_universe'>show_me_the_universe</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Anxiety, Bathing, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Non-Graphic Violence, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Trauma, commission, non-detailed nudity</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 01:42:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,685</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27437299</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/show_me_the_universe/pseuds/show_me_the_universe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Catra gets in her first battle since defeating Horde Prime, and the sight of blood brings back painful memories. She finds both pain and comfort in Adora's embrace...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>110</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>"We're Gonna Be Okay, Aren't We?"</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arc_212/gifts">Arc_212</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>this is my first she-ra fic, a commission for Arc_212, thank you for your support and patience!</p><p>anyways, this is my first she-ra fic, I really hope I did it justice!</p><p>warnings for mild descriptions of injuries, talk of anxiety and PTSD, and non-graphic, non-sexual nudity</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>This was supposed to be a road trip. A “best-friend squad” road trip, one last adventure to restore magic across the galaxy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The thing was, the term ‘road trip’ implied a fun time. And usually, yes, the adventures Catra had with her newfound best friends were fun.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They had traveled from planet to planet, spreading messages of magic and joy and hope. It was so beautiful, seeing strange new worlds, meeting all sorts of wonderful aliens and creatures. The most beautiful part, Catra knew, was having Adora, Glimmer, and Bow by her side. Getting to spend every day with her beautiful fiancee and her two best friends was a dream come true- a dream she could never have even begun to imagine two years ago.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This was her life now, and for the most part, it was so incredibly fun.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Except for when it wasn’t.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Most people on most planets welcomed magic back into their lives with open arms, with great enthusiasm, celebrating the return of a magic long forgotten. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But not everyone was so accepting.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a group of anti-magic rebels on this planet, hostile and fierce. They had ambushed the Best Friend Squad during what should have been a peaceful and relaxing night.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>With the combined power of She-Ra’s strength, Catra’s skill, Glimmer’s magic, and Bow’s precision, it was a quick fight, but it was by no means an easy one. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Glimmer and Bow, with their respective magic and archery powers being more long range, managed to escape the battle relatively unscathed, but She-Ra and Catra, more involved in the hands-on combat, were both scratched up and covered in mud.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Catra scowled at her reflection in the mirror, scraping a piece of dried mud off of her face. This was their first major battle since defeating Horde Prime, and to be so physically ruined was an exhausting sight. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>An even more painful sight, however, was the sight of Adora when she walked into the bathroom they shared. As She-Ra, she had appeared to be fine, barely hurt. But without the radiance of her magical glow, Adora was covered in blood and bruises.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was all too familiar.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adora, ruined, covered in blood and sweat, was a sight Catra had seen far too many times in her life. And, before the invasion of Horde Prime, she had been the direct cause of so much of Adora’s pain, even from childhood. There was a faint scar on Adora’s face, a constant reminder to Catra that she had caused her best friend so much pain…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Of course, Catra knew this time that she wasn’t the cause of Adora’s wounds, but she still couldn’t help but feel guilty. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The very sight of the blood, the feeling of pain, brought her back to the Horde, to all the times she had tried to hurt Adora with intent, to all the times she had inflicted pain upon her best friend, on someone she truly loved, on someone she just wanted to notice her....</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And now she had that, she had Adora in her life, by her side, but that would never be enough to erase the memories of the hatred that had been in her heart at one point, it would never be enough to wipe the scars off of Adora’s body.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Catra?” Adora said, looking up from scrubbing mud off of her arm, “Are… are you okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.” Catra’s head was spinning, she was sending herself into a panic.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s wrong?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m…” Catra didn’t know how to open up about this, she was still so awful at getting her feelings across, “Evidently, I’m not great at the sight of blood.”</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t worry, we’ll get you cleaned up, it’ll be fine-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not my blood, dummy. Yours.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I hate seeing you like this. It just reminds me of when- when I had devoted my life to trying to fucking kill you- that was so stupid of me and I was so misguided and seeing you all beat up like this just takes me back to those dark times and- and- I can’t help but get caught up in what I could’ve done better. I could’ve gone with you when you found that sword, but I stayed behind like an idiot because I was jealous of you… When I became Force Captain and started rising through the ranks, I could have stopped at any time but I didn’t because I finally had power in the Horde </span>
  <em>
    <span>and</span>
  </em>
  <span> I finally had you paying attention to me and…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Catra, I need you to take a deep breath,” Adora placed a gentle hand on Catra’s arm. She shuddered and nearly drew away from the touch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Catra took several deep breaths, trying to calm her nerves in any way she could.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Seeing you hurt like this only reminds me of all the times I hurt you, and I know it’s in the past, but I still feel awful for everything I’ve done.” Catra raised a hand to Adora’s face, tracing over the scar she had left years and years ago, “No amount of forgiveness can ever clean these scars.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re right.” Adora replied, “Neither of us are ever going to completely heal from our past.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Catra sniffled, wiping away a tear, “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let me finish- We’re never going to completely heal from the past- physically or emotionally- so the best thing we can do for each other is learn to heal slowly, and learn to heal together. It’s been two years, yes, but there’s still so much more progress to be made. This isn’t going to be easy, but we can make it through this, together.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah…” Catra said with a soft smile, “We can.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let’s get cleaned up- after the day we’ve had, I think we could both use a hot bath.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Adora....” Catra groaned, “You know I hate water.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, but you need to get cleaned up- I’m not gonna let you sit around caked in mud all night.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can’t I just take a quick shower and get it done with?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You could,” Adora said, taking off her jacket, “But the bath is big enough for two.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Catra’s tail twitched, giving away the enthusiasm she was trying to suppress. “I suppose.”</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>Before long, the bath was filled with steaming hot water and mountains of bubbles that smelled like vanilla and lavender. Catra didn’t particularly like the smell- but it was a similar scent to the perfume Adora wore, so she didn’t mind at all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>While the bath filled, Catra and Adora tended to each other’s wounds, bandaging each other up, a somber silence between them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Catra was used to this kind of gentle silence now. She often got quiet after having a panic attack, especially one related to her traumatic past. Adora understood this, and didn’t force her to talk.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After cleaning and bandaging each other up, Catra and Adora unceremoniously undressed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>An interesting aspect of Catra and Adora’s relationship was that nudity wasn’t an inherently sexual or scandalous thing. They had talked to Glimmer and Bow, who both seemed appalled at the idea of casual nudity between a couple. But the fact of the matter was that Catra and Adora had grown up in the Horde together. With a common changing room and a shared bunk and a communal shower, there was nothing they hadn’t already seen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was nice, Catra realized, to have that level of comfort around Adora even after all these years. A wave of love swept over her like a sigh, soft and gentle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I love you, dummy.” Catra said, wrapping her arms around Adora’s waist and leaning in to kiss her, her tail wrapping around Adora’s leg.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I love you too,” Adora said, stepping back from the kiss and climbing into the tub.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Catra reluctantly joined her lover in the water, sighing at how good the hot water felt against her aching muscles. She leaned back, letting warmth wash over her, her legs tangled up with Adora’s, the gentle crackling of popping soap bubbles the only sound in the room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The strong scent of the soap gave Catra a bit of a headache, just another added level of pain on top of her aching muscles, stinging scars, and emotional wounds. But Adora’s presence alone was enough to soothe so much of her pain.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was a strange combination, the sweet fragrance of the lavender and vanilla soap clashing with the acrid tang of blood and the stench of mud.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Though, Catra supposed, the clashing smells fit her mood well, feeling so calm and loved by Adora while also feeling defeated and helpless by her own mind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Catra,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hm?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You look tense. Sit up and turn around, if you will.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Catra did as she was told, rewarded immediately with Adora giving her a gentle shoulder massage, easing away her tension. Adora held a washcloth to a point between Catra’s shoulder blades- that one spot so impossible to reach on your own- and gently scrubbed at what Catra figured to be a speck of dirt she had missed before.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>To be treated so gently and so carefully by the very person she had caused so much pain… it was a reminder to Catra that no matter what her twisted, anxious brain told her, Adora cared about her, Adora had forgiven her, Adora </span>
  <em>
    <span>loved</span>
  </em>
  <span> her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adora wrapped her arms around Catra’s waist, pulling her close so that Catra was nearly sitting on her lap under the water. Catra leaned her head against Adora’s chest, her smooth, soft skin contrasting with Catra’s spiky, wet fur.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adora ran her fingers through Catra’s hair slowly, a gentle, reassuring touch that helped soothe Catra’s exhausted mind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Purring, Catra nuzzled further into Adora’s embrace, finding comfort in the warmth of the water and the strength of her lover’s arms. This was her world now, and she had never been so content in her life. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, Adora?” Catra asked, looking up at her fiancee.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re gonna be okay, aren’t we?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes we are, my love.” Adora pressed a sweet kiss to Catra’s lips, “Yes, we are.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>thank you so much for reading!</p><p>Leave a comment if you enjoyed, I would love some feedback on if you enjoyed my first She-Ra fic!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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